Volunteer with ALA

Purpose: Focus groups are gathered after ALA events to bring together business partners in a format to capture successes and opportunities from the business partner perspective. The volunteers will participate in capturing ideas and sharing member experience of business partner contributions.

Focus groups are ALA headquarters staff led.

Expectations and Responsibilities:

• Volunteers are engaged pre-event with assigned tasks for the event.
• Volunteers participate in focus group conversation and are available for any additional discussion, otherwise their volunteer commitment ends with the focus group meeting.
• Meetings will be a handful of video conferences. 
• Employer support is important to be successful, especially as it pertains to required attendance at the above-mentioned meetings. 
• ALA leadership qualities include courage, vision, communication, passion, reliability, inclusiveness, balance, respect, professionalism, collaboration and integrity.
• Volunteers will support and abide by the ALA Bylaws, Policies, Code of Ethics, and the Strategic Direction and Plan of Work. 
• Regular communication with the ALA staff liaisons for progress updates.

Qualifications and General Responsibilities

• Attendance at event being addressed.
• Have a working knowledge of the challenges of legal management professionals. 
• Assist the Board of Directors with projects, analysis and evaluation as requested.  

Construct: ALA headquarters staff directed with at least 1 ALA member volunteer in each focus group.

Call: As needed

Selection Made: As needed

Term: Term lasts only as long as the focus group discussion

Description: Our Virtual Meetups are informal, virtual discussion with no fixed agenda, covering any timely topic participants identify to address. Like the Online Community, the content is not provided by ALA but is an opportunity for 25-60 participating individuals—almost all of whom are ALA members— to connect around specific areas of interest and share ideas, resources and solutions. The Meetup chat moderator will actively facilitate the virtual weekly one-hour discussion which is conducted on the Zoom platform.  The moderator’s primary responsibility is to keep the conversation going, followed by maintaining awareness of those who desire/attempt to speak and ensure they have an opportunity to do so. We also ask the moderator to be aware of the time and let participants know when 5-10 minutes remain.

Topic suggestions are gathered at participant registration, and these are passed on to the moderator on the day of the chat, along with a list of current registrants. Staff may supplement the topic list with suggested ideas, and it is very helpful when the moderator prepares a list of current topics to support conversation flow. ALA staff are on the call and can be reached by private chat if any questions arise during the call.

The weekly moderator will be recognized in registration material and scheduling information, as available. 

Expectations: The time commitment for this volunteer activity is roughly 1 hour for each weekly chat on Tuesday, beginning at 1 p.m. Central

If scheduled and confirmed, and availability changes, at least two weeks’ notification is requested.

Moderators may volunteer for any Tuesday on which there is availability by both moderator and ALA.

No opportunity will be provided to market the moderator’s products or services, if such an interest exists.

Eligibility: Anyone with an interest in moderating may volunteer to do so. Membership is not required.

Mission Statement: The goals for the ALA Membership Ambassador Program are to welcome new members to ALA, develop a relationship with new members and provide them with an immediate peer connection, ensure new members understand how to access and utilize ALA member benefits and potentially increase consumption of ALA products and services and ALA member retention rates. 

Description: The Ambassador is an enthusiastic and welcoming member of ALA who helps new members feel comfortable, enjoys sharing and gaining knowledge and understands, embraces and articulates the value of belonging to ALA.  The Ambassador is also well-versed in the Association’s products, services and opportunities available to members so they can provide guidance and direction to address new members’ needs.  This volunteer opportunity does not require in-person meetings, though the Ambassadors are encouraged to work together to support the needs of new members.  There is a formal evaluation process for Ambassadors to ensure consistent mentorship of new members.  

Eligibility: An Ambassador must have at least three (3) years of consecutive ALA membership experience.  Active members of the ALA Member Ambassador Committee (MAC) are excluded from volunteering to serve as Ambassadors while serving on the Committee. 

Getting Started: To express interest and learn more about becoming an ALA Ambassador, simply join the ALA New Member Launchpad Online Community and post ‘I’m interested in learning more about becoming an Ambassador.’

Call for volunteers: Ongoing

Description: ALA offers several Online Community forums for members that are based on the individual’s involvement and interests in the association. Focus areas include Special Interest topics and General forums. Opportunities are available to moderate an individual group, for example, HR Issues or Financial Issues.

Three of the most important activities of community moderators:

1. It is of utmost importance to ensure discussions are not violating antitrust laws. Moderators educate community members and edit posts if needed. More information on antitrust guidelines is here. 
2. Help to ensure posts receive responses and encourage general discussion. Sometimes this may involve responding yourself or reminding/asking others.
3. Ensure the discussion is respectful and supports the ALA Code of Ethics.

The moderator is authorized to edit and/or delete posts if required by antitrust regulations and works with ALA staff to determine the course of action in ambiguous circumstances.

Expectations: The time commitment for this volunteer activity is dependent on the volume of posts. Estimated time is approximately 3-5 hours per month. 

Eligibility: Anyone with an interest in moderating may volunteer to do so. If a community is restricted to assigned members only, the moderator must be part of the authorized group(s). Membership is required for access to the ALA Online Community. 

Welcome new members in the Online Community!

Description: 

Make an impact in less than ten minutes with a post in ALA’s Online Community! The process is simple – you choose a week to make a post welcoming new members in the General Topics forum, we send a list of new members’ names and firm names, and you tag those members welcoming them to the Online Community in a post. There is no obligation to sign up for more than one week, or at all.

The purpose:

• Foster member awareness and engagement in member retention.
• Promote a welcoming environment and member-to-member connections.
• Promote new member engagement.
  

Expectations: The time commitment for this volunteer activity is up to you! Sign up for a week that works for you using this link. 

Eligibility: You must be an ALA member to participate in this program. If you have an interest in reaching new members we encourage you to volunteer.

 

Shared Interest Groups (SIGs) provide opportunities for members to connect, collaborate, and engage in meaningful discussions, knowledge sharing, and skill development pertaining to their common specialties, focus areas or goals. SIGs foster networking, mentorship, and the exchange of best practices, supporting both personal and professional growth within the association's broader mission. In order to facilitate engagement and connection, ALA provides all SIGs with the following.

• A dedicated online community.
• Optional virtual calls (coordinated by the assigned SIG leaders).
• An in-person meeting at the Annual Conference & Expo each year.

The ALA Board of Directors determines which SIGs are available to the membership.

SIG LEADERS

SIG Leaders perform a variety of functions that are extremely important to the development and productivity of their respective groups.  SIG leaders assist its members to achieve the maximum benefit from the interactions in their group. Leaders may do that by providing subject specific information, resources, education or networking opportunities to the group either via announcement topics and/or the online community.  Leaders may also initiate and encourage interesting and useful discussions on current issues and relevant topics within the designated online community.

SIG leaders are responsible for the following: 

• Welcoming new members and connecting them to the group. 
• Organizing virtual calls. 
• Serving as the point contact for ALA Headquarters.
• Semiannually, reviewing discussions in the online community to archive those with lasting value, and removing those that are no longer relevant. 
• In collaboration with ALA Headquarters Staff, planning and coordinating an in-person meeting at the Annual Conference & Expo.

For those interested in becoming a SIG leader, please submit this short form to ALA headquarters. A member of ALA staff will follow up with you regarding roles available.

For reference, current SIGs available are:

• Corporate/Government
• Executive Leadership
• FirstFive
• Intellectual Property Administrators
• International Firm Administrators
• Large Firm Administrators
• Midsized Firm Administrators
• Plaintiff and Personal Injury Administrators
• Small Firm Administrators

Description: This volunteer opportunity is to facilitate one ALA Roundtable via the Zoom videoconferencing platform on the third Friday of the month from noon to 1 p.m. Central. The roundtables focus on our rapidly changing environment with predetermined topics that are driven by member need and include facilitator input. The facilitator can select a cofacilitator to assist them if they like. 

Expectations: One of the responsibilities for the role includes providing potential discussion questions for that month’s roundtable topic. ALA will provide the facilitator with the information needed to lead the meeting. ALA staff will be available before and during the call to assist and can be reached by private chat if any questions arise during the roundtable.

The facilitator’s primary responsibility is to keep the conversation going. They also must maintain awareness of participants who desire/attempt to speak, ensuring they have an opportunity to do so. 

No opportunity will be provided to market the facilitator’s products or services, if such an interest exists.

Eligibility: The individual needs to be a member of ALA. They must be comfortable facilitating a call and engaging attendees to share experiences and questions they may have for discussion.